The Newcomer (Thunder Point) (17 page)

She was stunned silent for a moment. “Right,” she finally said. Hands shaking, she pulled her list out again. “Diabetes?” she asked. “Metabolic issues, like Crohn’s disease?”

He covered her hand. “I’m not a dangerous person,” he said. “I’ve turned my life around. But to a kid, that news wouldn’t be important. I wouldn’t want the reputation that goes with having a con for a dad. I won’t bother you. Or your daughter.”

“You seem to be doing okay for yourself now,” she said.

He gave a nod. “When you’re an ex-con, getting work is almost impossible. My brother-in-law helped me land a job in a run-down body shop. It went into foreclosure and he helped me buy the auctioned property. I was probably too young and inexperienced for it, but it was a lot better than begging for a chance, a break. So, I worked hard, ran it for a few years with ex-cons I knew were okay and we turned it around. What you see is a rebuilt and highly leveraged business, but an honest and dependable one. The last couple of years, even in this economy, have been good years.” He took a breath. “I haven’t been in trouble since. You can check that.”

“I should probably just go....”

“I have some money put aside. No other children,” he said, shaking his head. “If you can use a hand...let me know. You wouldn’t have to tell her where it came from.”

“I don’t need anything,” she said. “I just wanted to know about the medical history.”

“And now you probably know way more than you wanted to know.”

She nodded. “Wow. I knew you were trouble back then, but I never...” Then she blanched. “I mean...”

“I know exactly what you mean, Gina. Listen, I realize I have no right, but can you tell me about her? I promise not to bother her or you.”

Gina thought about this for a long moment. Then she pulled her cell phone out of her purse, clicked on the picture gallery and passed it to him. The first picture was one she’d taken at a Thunder High basketball game. Ashley was smiling, red hair shining, green eyes twinkling, her pom-poms under her chin. She was stunning.

And she saw him almost crumble. He cradled the phone in both hands, a look of wonder came over him. He had to glance away briefly to compose himself. “She’s so beautiful,” he said in a strained whisper.

“There are more. You can scroll through.”

He took his time with the pictures and awe was obvious on his face. She had about a hundred pictures—Ashley fooling around with friends, sleeping, laughing, cheering, studying with Eve, hugging her grandmother, sitting at the counter at the diner. It was a long while before he stopped and looked at her. He laughed uncomfortably. “I better stay out of Thunder Point or the whole town will know who I am.”

“Her resemblance to you is unmistakable, that’s for sure.”

“Are you married now? Do you have someone?” he asked.

“Not married, but yes, I have someone. You?”

He nodded. “A fiancée. She’s thirty. A web designer.” He laughed. “Hard to pull her away from the computer and out of the house. But she’s amazingly talented. She wants her own company. Who is your guy?”

She couldn’t help but laugh at the irony. She grinned. “The Deputy Sheriff.”

He smirked. “Figures. Well, I’m not in trouble anymore. Tell me more about her. About Ashley. Something happened. There’s some reason you’re here asking about diabetes and Crohn’s disease.”

“She had a breakdown,” Gina said simply. “She had a serious boyfriend, first love, and he dumped her and I could barely get her out of bed. She was saying things I couldn’t deal with—like that she didn’t even want to live. And then—” She stopped. She swallowed. Was this the kind of private stuff you don’t tell a stranger, even if he’s the father of your child? And without thinking any further she said, “And then the mean girl he’s now dating used Photoshop on a picture of her with naked boobs and texted it to everyone on his phone list. It was up on the internet. She collapsed. I had to have her hospitalized.”

His face darkened, then grew crimson. He steepled his fingers to keep his hands from shaking. Then he pursed his lips.

“We were afraid we could be dealing with clinical depression, but the doctor is convinced she was just in crisis. She’s home now, doing much better. Except for some emotional disappointment now and then, she’s getting her strength back. But it was that crisis that led me to search you out, to ask about family medical history. I was scared to death, I don’t mind telling you that.”

“Who would do something like that?” he asked in a whisper.

She actually laughed, but it wasn’t a happy laugh. “A mean and jealous teenage girl would. Really, Eric, you have no idea how cruel people can be.” And then she thought about what she’d said. The man had spent five years in prison. Chances were he knew.

But he was gazing at her with serious eyes. “It must have been so hard,” he said softly. “Raising her alone.”

“There were hard times,” she admitted. “But I had my mother. And like you, I’ve made a good life for myself. I have strong relationships in Thunder Point and Ashley has a very solid support network and good friends. And I’m watching, I’m always watching. I won’t let anything happen to her.”

“If there’s anything I can do. Any way I can help. Like I said, I have a little money set aside and she wouldn’t have to know her father is a—”

“When Ashley is older, when I’m sure she’s stable and feeling good about herself, I’ll tell her about you. I mean, the new you—I’ve been honest with her about my past. Right now? I think we just leave it alone. No, I don’t want your money. But thank you for offering.”

“I only ask one thing, Gina. One small thing.” He pulled a card from his shirt pocket. “It’s my cell phone number. If there’s ever anything I can do for her. Anything. Will you call me?”

She stared at the number. “If I’d come around five years ago and asked for help, would you have been this receptive?”

“I changed my life,” he said. “I had to. The path I was on, I was going to die ugly and young. And hard as it is to believe, I didn’t want to. Five years ago? Yes, I think I would’ve tried to help—I was well on my way to a better life by then. But I’m sure now, beyond a doubt. If you need me, if Ashley needs me, I can do my best. If I could meet her someday... Ah, I’m not pushing on that. That’s just fantasy. But if she ever needs help, just call me.”

* * *

They talked for another half hour—she gave him news of the town, he told her about his family and some of his misadventures. Gina cried a little on the way home. It was not about regret. It was about gratitude. Her mother always said things happened the way they were supposed to. If she’d found a way to strap Eric to her seventeen years ago, she’d have found herself stuck with a felon; an irresponsible and heartless bad boy. But the world had done its job to shape him while she and Ashley were busy building their family together. And now, unless she was no judge at all, he really had rebuilt his character and his life.

She was lucky. She had Mac, the love of her life. And a phone number for emergencies.

Twelve

C
ooper had to force himself to call Austin to start a dialogue and he had never found anything so unnatural or difficult. Making small talk with a shy ten-year-old was torture. Cooper asked him about school, about his grandparents, his dad, baseball. Austin responded with one-word answers then, invariably, Cooper would ask for Spencer so he could get the lowdown on how Austin was holding up since his mother’s passing.

“He’s doing well,” Spencer said. “He’s resilient and I think he was more than ready to start thinking about normal things. The last few years have been really hard on him.”

“And how about learning he has a new biological father on the scene?” Cooper asked.

“It’s news to you, Cooper, but we told Austin months before Bridget passed. He’s ten—if he was going to have another dad on the scene, all he hoped for was a cool one. You passed the cool test with your Jet Ski and Harley.”

About ten days later, Austin was more relaxed on his call with Cooper. He used more than one-word answers and even seemed to enjoy the conversation a little bit.

Soon after making regular calls to Austin and Spencer, and at Spencer’s invitation, Cooper packed a duffel and headed to Texas for a weekend visit. Spencer and Cooper took Austin and one of his friends, James, out for pizza on Friday night. Cooper realized that what greased their relationship best was James. The boys got to laughing and screwing around, eventually running off to play video games in the pizza parlor.

“You’re a genius,” he told Spencer. “Bringing James along made it so much easier.”

“Austin has been drowning in adults for months, especially while Bridget went through the last of her illness. He’d almost forgotten how to have fun.”

“How’s he doing back at school?” Cooper asked.

“He seems relieved to be there. Like he’s so goddamn tired of being serious, of being sad. It’s awful seeing a ten-year-old act like an old man.”

“You did a better job with him, especially through all these adjustments, than I ever could have. I wouldn’t have known where to start.”

“You would if you’d had him in your life since he was born,” Spencer said. “I think you’re doing fine.”

“Listen, something’s been on my mind,” he said, looking at Spencer. “Bridget wasn’t cheating on you or anything. You’re comfortable with that now, right?”

“Now, yes. I admit it took me a while. I know how it was. At least I think I do. You broke up. She started dating me a few months later, but we were taking it slow. She was trying to make sure it wasn’t a rebound thing. Finally she was ready to get more serious. I’d been ready first, that’s the fact. We were both pretty surprised by the pregnancy. We both thought it happened the first time....”

“I was having trouble with all the things that went along with the commitment. I was good with the fidelity part. I loved Bridget, or at least I thought I did at the time. But I wasn’t ready for stability and family life, and she was smart enough to get that. I wasn’t willing to give up anything to make us work. That’s why we broke up. But I kept coming back. We had history, that’s all it was. It was comfortable and familiar. Then I came back too late—I called her and she told me she was through fooling around, that she’d met someone who could actually make compromises and she was in love.” He gave a shrug. “I was pretty pissed, to tell you the truth. I didn’t contact her again for six months. And you know the rest.”

“She was married and pregnant,” Spencer said. He shot Cooper a melancholy look. “And said she was happy.”

“She
was
happy. We were over before she moved on. Bridget was a good woman.”

“You don’t have to sell me on that, you know.”

“I’m going to have to tell my family about Austin. And they’re going to want to meet him at some point.”

“I know. You tell me when and I’ll take him. It’s not that I don’t trust you with him...”

“Listen, let’s be straight about this, about anything that has to do with Austin. I don’t want Austin scared or overwhelmed. I
want
you to be with him. He’s just a kid for God’s sake. Until he’s ready to visit me or go to my family without you, I want you there with him. I’ll try to work out a time with my family and check it with you. I’ll pay the fare. Maybe after school is out? They’re just over in Albuquerque—not a bad flight for you.”

Spencer chuckled. “You’re something, you know that? You could be a complete asshole about all this.”

“I’ve been a complete asshole here and there, which might be one of the many reasons Bridget broke up with me,” he said, slapping Spencer on the back. “But I’m trying, man. I’m trying. There’s sure nothing in it for me if Austin grows up all screwed up.”

“Let’s hold off on the family visit in Albuquerque,” Spencer said. “First, I think Austin and I should come out to Oregon to visit you. On your turf. Is there a hotel in town?”

Cooper smiled. “Even better. I live on the second floor of my business, but I have an RV and a hook-up on the property. It’s nice. You and Austin can have it for a weekend. You’ll have fun, I can almost guarantee it. It’s a nice little town.” He grinned. “And I have that Jet Ski.”

Right then the boys came running back to the table. “Dad! Dad! We need more quarters!” Austin was flushed and sweaty and smelled gamey, like a happy little boy should.

“I got it,” Cooper said. He reached into his pocket. He pulled out a five-dollar bill. “When you get change, count it and make sure you’ve got the right amount. Got that?”

“Got it!” Austin said. And they turned away.

Austin’s friend, James, said, “Who’s that again?”

“That’s Cooper,” Austin said. “The bio-dad.”

* * *

It wasn’t unusual to see Landon on the beach with Hamlet in the afternoons. After school he was often with other high school kids or Eve, but today he was solo, throwing the ball for Ham all the way across the beach. Seeing Cooper up on the deck he headed over and ran up the stairs with Hamlet on his heels. Ham went straight to Cooper for a little scratch behind the ears. “What’s up, my man?” Cooper asked Landon. “Coke?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Landon said. “I’ll get it.”

A minute later he was sitting next to Cooper in the same relaxed position, feet up on the deck rail, chair leaning back, looking out at the ocean. It was a few minutes before Landon said, “Coop, do you understand women?”

Cooper turned to look at his profile. He grinned. “Not that often.” When Landon didn’t say anything, Cooper asked, “Girl trouble?”

“All over the place,” Landon said. “Maybe not trouble, exactly. More like confusion. Does it seem like Sarah’s in a bad mood these days? And Eve...she’s got all that stuff going on—sometimes she’s just plain pissy. Sometimes she’s crying about nothing or laughing about nothing.”

“Sarah seems okay to me,” Cooper said. “Maybe a little quiet now and then. She said she’s got work stuff going on—stuff that should be resolved soon. I don’t know anything about Eve’s mood.”

“She’s been upset about Ash and Downy—that went down badly. It freaked Eve out—she was afraid we’d get all serious and then I’d do something that nasty to her. Then Eve’s mom showed up after ten years and that had her all upside down. And I think Sarah’s been weird lately.”

“Landon, you gotta be patient, man. There are cosmic forces that have nothing to do with me and you. Like PMS. Ever think of that?”

Landon winced. “I try not to think about things like that.”

“I don’t blame you, buddy. And for God’s sake, never ask! That’s the kiss of death.” He took a sip of his coffee. “I think Sarah was a little worried about my trip to Texas. I think she doesn’t know what to make of this situation I’m in—all of a sudden I’m a father. I just try to reassure her—it doesn’t change anything between us. It’s gotta be a shock, though, huh? So if she’s moody, it’s probably because I threw her a curve....”

“You think she’s jealous or something?”

“Nah. I think she was worried enough about taking me on, now she thinks she has to take me
and
a kid on. It’s not really like that, though. Austin wants to live with his dad, Spencer. He feels safe there. I’ll just visit from time to time and they’ll visit here. You don’t show up in a kid’s life when he’s ten years old and take over. I mean, if he was in trouble I would. But he’s not in trouble. Spencer is a good guy.”

“How’d you end up with a kid?”

He shrugged. “Who knows? Since we were specifically trying not to have one, something obviously went wrong. But when you see that kid it makes you think maybe something went right....”

Landon shuddered. It was unmistakable.

Cooper pulled his feet off the rail and turned in his chair. “You want to talk about something?”

“No,” Landon said, but he didn’t make eye contact. “Did you have a girlfriend when you were in high school?”

“Not exactly,” Cooper said.

“What does
that
mean?”

“Well, like every kid that age, I was in love just about all the time. I lusted after a lot of girls who didn’t appear to lust after me. I had some dates. Most of them were first dates. I think there were a couple of girls I dated a few times.”

“So, when did you first, you know...”

“What, Landon? When did I get laid? Do we need to talk about the birds and the bees?”

Landon finally looked at him. “You trying to piss me off? No wonder Sarah’s cranky.”

“I was older than I wanted to be. I don’t know. Maybe seventeen, but probably eighteen. I didn’t have a girlfriend I’d been with for six months, that’s for sure. Now, what’s going on with you and Eve? We got problems?”

He shook his head. “It’s just that... Well, I don’t want to lose her. She’s really special. Perfect. I could never want a better girl. But I don’t want to... You know about her mom and dad, right? How they had to get married because Eve was on the way? And they were just kids? Eve’s mom was younger than Eve is now. Holy shit is all I have to say about that!”

“Guys don’t usually talk about things like that, but I’m capable of math,” Cooper said. “You and Eve getting a little too serious?”

“Not yet,” he said, and Cooper couldn’t tell if it was remorse, disappointment or fear behind those words.

Cooper leaned back and put his feet up on the rail again. “Okay, here’s what I have to say about that. You can probably save yourself a lot of heartache by being real careful, by which I mean lots of protection. But hear this from Papa Cooper—there don’t seem to be any real guarantees. Any time you want to talk about it...”

“Did you ever feel, you know, like you really loved someone?” he asked.

Cooper smiled at him and he hoped he smiled gently. “I feel that way right now,” he said. “I’ve felt that way before, as a matter of fact—times it didn’t really work out. And now I’m kind of glad it didn’t. I don’t mind telling you, Sarah’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I waited a long time to find her.” He clapped a hand on Landon’s shoulder. “It’s okay to feel like you love Eve. Nothing wrong with love, Landon. Some people find it young, some people have to wait awhile. But what you have to guard against is letting a little love make you a lot careless.”

“You can’t tell Mac about this conversation,” Landon said.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Cooper said.

“Or Sarah.”

“Or Sarah,” he repeated. “Now here’s what you do, son. You’re both, what? Sixteen?”

“We’re both seventeen this summer. Eve’s seventeen in July.”

“Right. You’re looking at your senior year and right around the corner will be college. Yep. Here’s what you do—you make sure you’re protected. Safe. Both of you. Just in case, you know, you get a little crazy. I’m assuming you have—”

“I’m good....”

“Well, that’s one of you,” Cooper said thoughtfully. They met eyes for a long moment.

Then Landon turned his chair back toward the ocean. They both put their feet up again. And Landon said, “So. How about those Yankees?”

Cooper laughed. “You know what, Landon, old man? I think you need an after-school job. And a summer job. Keep you out of trouble while Sarah’s working.”

“That’s a good idea. You pay anything?”

“We’ll negotiate if we have to,” he said.

* * *

The
Oregon Dispatch
was a regional newspaper that came out once a week and covered news from the many small towns in Coos County. There were also coupons for local businesses and groceries—a dying tradition as people could download many of these coupons from their computers. But when there was exciting local news or big events, the
Dispatch
was always there. And this week there was a news story from Oregon State University and Thunder Point. It was rumored that Crawford Downy was going to be a first round major league draft pick. A freshman! A couple of scouts had admitted he was a hot property and if he continued to play as well as he had been, he’d be in the majors in no time at all.

Yes, this was the boy who was one of the favorite sons of the town. Perhaps the favorite of all. A brilliant athlete.

It was all the talk at the high school and so Ashley couldn’t escape the news. Then she saw the article. There was a picture, of course. Smiling, broad-shouldered Downy with his mitt in his hand, his sandy blond hair lifted by the wind.